A harmonious twist on an old favorite with bonus action songs.
Readers will need to tune their voices before meeting Troll, who guards the bridge leading to “the tastiest grass in the valley.”
When Vole arrives to cross, Troll sings a challenge in his clear, deep voice: “Troll-dee-roll, I’m a troll, / And my favorite food is vole. / With a knick-knack, paddywhack, / Better pay the toll, / or you’ll end up in my bowl!” But hungry Vole can’t pay, and the battle of wits begins. Luckily, Troll knows only one song, so Vole teaches him a new one. Three times, Troll gets so caught up in each new action song—children will recognize these storytime standards and join in—Vole teaches him that the anthropomorphic creature successfully sneaks over the bridge for “a feast of grassy greens.” But on Vole’s fourth visit, Troll snatches him by the tail. Knowing he is destined for Troll’s bowl, Vole begs for one last Troll song. In an unexpected twist, Vole joins “in with a sweet, high harmony,” and together they fill “the valley with music so enchanting that fish [spring] from the creek, flapping their fins with pleasure….Even the songbirds [hush] to listen.” Understandably, as part of their new friendship, Vole insists on rewriting Troll’s challenge song. Watercolor, colored pencil, and ink illustrations enhance the emotional subtext to this revised fairy tale.
A harmonious twist on an old favorite with bonus action songs. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58089-885-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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